Manchester-based food blogger, lover of all things food and drink.

Month: December 2016

I’d like to start by apologising for missing a post last week, I’m sure you all noticed 😛 I moved house; for most people this would mean a couple of car loads and a couple of days work….for me, someone who buys things all the time, including furniture, clothes and random bits and bobs, this amounted to 18 car loads. By all means the car was small (a Fiat 500), and this included 2 carloads of Rory’s possessions, but pretty much all my stuff. Because of this, we had such a big job of moving house, and then unpacking, we basically ate beans on toast all week. Now I could have written a post about beans on toast, but in truth, I don’t think you can improve on the classic, so it would have been a dull read.

Since last week I have cooked a Christmas dinner for 6 people, gone out for dinner a few times and had a variety of home cooked meals. It has been wonderful, all moved in with the boyf (feeling a little Monica “and I have to live with a boy”), unpacked and finishing up for Christmas break. I thought I should use this post to showcase my favourite part of a Christmas dinner. Not a traditional part, in fact I know very few people (if any) that include it.

Background to the post, the Chetwynd’s don’t do ‘bread sauce’, in fact I don’t think I have ever even tried it, but I have seen it and it does not appeal to me. This is why for as long as I can remember we have added cheesy leek sauce in replacement. And oh wow is it good! Cheesy leek sauce is delicious, it goes with soooo many things and it can be the base of loads of dishes such as pie, pasta sauce, cauliflower cheese (just switch the leeks for cauliflower) and even on its own. Love, love, love cheesy leek sauce!

Interesting fact, if you try and pour the milk into the pan whilst trying to take photos, it can lead to difficulties. In my case a pint of milk everywhere, and something definitely worth crying about.

Now that I have shown my passion for the sauce, I should probably tell you how to make it. It is pretty simple, very basic recipe just requires a little bit of TLC. Scroll below to find the recipe and instructions.

Tip: to make cauliflower cheese instead, chop the cauliflower into florets, boil for 5 minutes till soft, and add these instead of the leeks.

Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoy the recipe. I would love to see your creations and what you accompany your sauce with, tag me on Instagram @chefwynd. Like, share, comment and subscribe ☺

Ingredients

Equipment:

Ingredients:

500g leeks

500ml milk (or soya milk unsweetened)

75g flour

100g butter

125g mature cheddar cheese

Directions

Prep the leeks. To do this, chop the end off, then score lengthways up the leek, take off the first 2-3 layers, run water down the leek to get rid of any dirt, then slice about 1cm thick up to the end of the white part of the leek. If unsure, watch this video.

Add 50g butter to the large frying pan and melt on a medium heat

Once melted add the chopped leeks, place the lid on top and let the leeks sweat for 10-15 minutes

While the leeks are sweating, get the small pan and add the rest of the butter (50g) and melt this (medium heat)

Once melted add the flour and mix together to form a roux

Measure out the milk and slowly add this to the roux, mixing to combine each time

Tip: add milk slowly, and keep on a medium heat and make sure the milk has completely combined each time, the roux will get larger and larger until it becomes a sauce, see pictures below

Once all the milk has been added you should have a sauce consistency, turn the heat up slightly and keep stirring, this should help the sauce thicken.

Next, grate the cheese and add this to the sauce, let the cheese melt in and then combine with the leeks. I personally serve this immediately, but if you need to keep it for later place it in an ovenproof dish to be reheated later.

This sauce is delicious, cheesy and creamy; it can be served cold the next day, reheated and even frozen (consumer within 1 month).

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Christmas. As if it’s already December. Time really does fly as you get older; rarely a moment to sit and relax and think. Today some friends and I went to visit Chester; we had a delicious lunch in Bar Lounge and a lovely walk through the Christmas markets.

Last time we came to Chester we struggled to get into Bar Lounge, so we decided to book, each paying a £10 deposit. Bar Lounge is located in the heart of the city centre; a cocktail bar and restaurant with a large outdoor seating area (perfect for a summers day, not a day as cold as this one though).

We arrived a little early and ordered some drinks at the bar while our table was finished, a random fridge selection which did not disappoint, saving on the pennies I went for a Lilt (forgot how much I love lilt). It still amazes me that restaurants and bars can get away with charging a 50p can for £2.50 but I guess you pay for the glass, ice and large piece of grapefruit right?

After getting our drinks we were took through to our table. The restaurant is lovely, great light coming from a huge deep window in the centre of the room, aluminium style tables, and as a friend of mine pointed out, many things shaped like a pineapple. We had a lovely waiter who showed us the menu and the options available and left us to it.

What a great menu! So much choice, I will definitely being going back to try the Chicado burger. It sounded amazing! A lemon and honey chicken burger, with avocado wrapped in treacle cured bacon (£11). But I decided to have something a little lighter for lunch, I had a small sized (£6) Lemon and Honey chicken super food salad with peach and pickled red onion, with a side of sweet potato fries (£3.50). A delicious salad, perfect size and filled me up nicely. Great range of flavours and the dressing on the salad was divine, thoroughly enjoyed it and the sweet potato fries were great too.

Lemon and Honey Chicken Superfood Salad – £6

Claire ordered a salad as well; she had the Smoked Salmon and Avocado super food salad with lemon crème fraiche (£6), with a side of hummus and bread (£4.50). We decided to share the sides, the hummus was nice enough but nothing incredible, and the pitta was a little thin and crispy for my tastes (it still got eaten though). Claire seemed to really enjoy her salad and as far as I could tell had no complaints.

Smoked Salmon and Avocado Superfood Salad – £6

Three of the girls on the table had roasts (£11.50 with a soft drink included); they did look amazing. I love a good Sunday Roast, with pink beef and all the trimmings, although two opted for a chicken breast. The roasts came with homemade Yorkshire puddings dripping in gravy, tenderstem broccoli, sweet potato and suede mash and other delightful treats. All three, ordered cauliflower cheese on the side (£3.50); this should really be on the side of all roasts right!

Lastly, after much deliberation one of the girls ordered the Allotment Burger. This is a vegetarian burger filled with many vegetables (of which I am unsure) and the main ingredient, a huge slice of goat’s cheese. From what it seemed, this was enjoyed and the goats cheese was delicious, the only problem (and this is not just Bar Lounge, it’s all burger places) is that our mouths just aren’t big enough to fit it all in (insert joke here). You end up having to use a knife and fork which kind of ruins the whole burger idea, but still clear plates all round.

So to wrap up the experience, (wrap up, get it) Bar Lounge offers great service, wonderful food and I happened to have the best company. A great experience at Bar Lounge in Chester and I will definitely repeat it, I would say to book ahead as it gets very busy. Visit their website here and have a look at all the other deals they do through the week.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post, if you get chance I highly recommend Chester, it’s a beautiful place and great bars for all your day drinking needs. Don’t forget to like, share, comment and subscribe.